Life-saving device and appliance.



R. J. KEE.

LIFE SAVING DEVICE AND APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23I I918.

1,281,975. Patented Oct. 15, 1918,.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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R. J. KEE.

LIFE SAVING DEVICE AND APPLIANCE APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23.1918.

Patented 0ct.15, 1918.

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LIFE SAVING DEVICE AND APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION HLED FEB. 23. 1918.

1,281,975., Patented 0ct.15,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WiZnesses 3/ J V '7 Q no Enr KEE, F rronoivro, ONTARIO, CANADA. 7

To all whom z'zf may concern:

Be it known that I, RoBER'r JOHN vKEE, subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at276 Roncensvalles avenue, in the city ofToronto, inthevcounty of York and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented newand useful Improvements Life-SavineDeYiceS n -A lia c o wh t followingis a; specification.

lMy. invention relates to improvements in life savlng devices andisprimarily intended ;.for the useofthose atsea.

a Life belts andotheri. simi1ar" deviees provi ded for passengers, andothers on shipboardfd ,they only. serve ;to sustain1 thewearer in thejlwaterfsolfthat' it the person wearing f the i ldevicelis in thewaterfor a prolonged period,

' which terminate'in the helmet, so that the 7 his health. will; beinjuriously affected and he will probably succumb to cold and .hunger..1." a, p

y? invention consists in the h provision ,offasuit oflsuitablewaterproof material 7 adapted tocover the weareriromheadto foot, and :issupplied withv a series of airchambers which: are preferably arranged,vertically around the body, 'legs and ;top, back, and sides. ofthe/helmet. ,,The latter i; is provided withalook-out ofrplate glass orother suitable material, andan air inlet opposite the nosei and "monthwhich may be opened and 'c lo s ed at the will oi the wearer; the,"front of j helmet from the forehead sewn'ie eugammaeutwara by,;means orstifl'ening ribs of whalebone or. other preferredmaterialso as toprovide ample'room reflecting the hands in front of 'the face.

l i The inside of the suit. is lined. with wool or: other-warm materialfand is provided withl'pockets; an air' pump may" alsol be s pp e fflating theb d ai ch mb "which latteiareinlthatje se connected by meansof piping to the said pump, or said i i body chambers may'beiinflatedby. blowing jinto atube connected' to saidjcha'mbers and terminatingv inhelmet; Ineither case non -r'eti1'r'n valves arelarranged on each airchamber, and I prefer to employ a; check valve also betweenthe .said nonreturn valves and thetrunk "air line so that in the event "of. fo d?chamb r be o Elde ec the utility; of the others will notfbeimpaired;

1* Theleg qair' chambers have tubes attached Specification of LettersPatent. Application filed February 2a, 1918. Serial No.

air chambers is controlled in o not answerlall requirements as EI -sAvmGDEVICE AND APPLIANCE.

said air chambers may be inflated by blowing into the said tubes, theends of which are provided with suitable valves.

The inflation and deflation of the helmet the same way as-the leg airchambers.

An opening is provided in the upper portion of thesuit which is securedboth inside and out as-I prefer to reinforce the closure with awaterproof roll on the inside.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a suit which, deflated,may be worn on board a vessel, and which is not too heavy to work in. p

Another object of my invention is to supply asuit which may be quicklyrendered 'unsinkableby pumping or blowing air into the air chambers, thesaid air chambers and piping being so. arranged thatv some ofthe saidchambers may be inflated or deflated independently of other of the saidchambers. I; A further object of my invention is to con- Patented Oot. 1.5, h

struct a suit in which the wearer may be I thrown into the water with aminimum risk of injury, andin which life may be sustained for aconsiderable period if the pockets have previouslybeen filled withsustenance. i 7 i With these and other objects inview my inventionconsists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts fullydescribed with the aid of the accompanying drawings inwhich similarparts aresimllarly designatedin all the views. 7

'E'gure 1 shows a front elevation ofiny suit. 7 a 1 y -Fig. '2-a partialelevation with] the inner closure fastened, andtheouterl one open.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of .Fig'; 1. 1 I U Fig. .4 isv anon-return valve.

Fig; 5 a detail of the air inletin thefhel- "met.

t Fig. fianfelevation of the-upper. portion 7 of the suit as worn onboard ship with the .inner and outer, closures open andt'he upperportion of the suit hanging. in. front of the wearer. r I ,Figr'T is'adetail of a sleeve.

Fig.8 'sa detail showing oneofplthe sleeves' 7 Fig. 9 is a detail of'theair inlet pipe. -'Figs. 10 and 11 are side and end views of the'endclosures For the air inlet pipe.

Figs. 12 and 13 are detail views of the non-return valves on the ends ofthe body air chamberpipes.

Fig. 1a is a detail showing a clasp which is placed on the air pipes,when the chambers to which said pipes lead; ecome detective. Theseclasps prevent air from entering into the detective chambers.

Referring moreparticularly to the drawings, 1 designates the body of mysuit, the outside of which is made up or vertical air chambers 2, andsecured exteriorly by means of fastenings 3, and interiorly byfastenings l; The legs 5, and boots 6, are preferably integral with thebody 1, as also are the sleeves '7 and gloves 8. The said boots andgloves are preferably of ordinary rubber. Each leg 5, has one airchamber encircling same, and, although thesaidair chambers are ribbed orquilted so as to provide a corrugated surface to the wat r, eachdivision or corrugation is connected to each adjoining division orcorrugation so that the whole may be inflated or deflated throughthe-tubes 9 and valves 10.

Similarly the helmet 11 has one large air chamber 12" covering the top,back, and

-s ides,,a'nd though ribbed or quilted as shown at 16, the whole may beinflated or deflated through the valve '14 and tube'13.

The valves 10 and 1 1 are identical, and preferably include a head 15adapted to close against the seat 17 when airpressure trom within thetubes '9 andlS forces the head 15 outward. The said head 15 is held inclosed position means of the spring 18; one end of which is secured tothe valve head '19, and the other end to the ring 20 arranged on theinside'of the valve body 10 or 14. When the air chamber is being 111-fiated the air pressure vercomes the pressure of the spring 18 andpasses into the tubes 9 or 13. In order to deflate the air chamber aslight inward pressure on the end 4:2 of the valve 15 will raise thesaidvalve from its seat and permit the air to escape. But instead of usingthe above described type of valve 1 may when desired Substitute anotherof suitable design without departing from within the limits of myinvention.

The front of p with a signal flag as to attract the attention of passingvessels, a transparent look-out 21, and an air inlet 22. The latterconsists of a pipe having a longitudinal slot 23 covered with gauze orother suitable'material.

The ends of the pipe are supplied with spring actuated ends 24. Thesprings 25 tend to keep the said ends 251 in open position vbut when thecords 26 are pulled in the direction of the arrows 27 the ends 2% areclosed and airno longer admitted. Slides 28 attached to the ends 241 aresupported in guides 29. (It will be understood that the tightly aroundthe wrists.

the helmet 11 is provided insists pipe is located within the helmet andin operation air enters the'aperture 23zandgpasses laterallythroughtheopenends'of the pipe and into the helmet. When, however, it isnecessary to closethe open ends of the pipe,

the operator pull the cords 26 downwardly V latter are particularlyuseful when both-e10.

sures are uni-listened and the helmet thrown back, andthe wearers headand shoulders exposed as shown in Fig; 6; I

It will be noted vfrom Fig: '8 that the underside 41 of the sleeves 7are'joined to the body portion 1 about the wee-refselbow and arereasonably close fitting-from the elbow down, so asto' allow amplez-roomfor inserting or removing the arm, and? at the same time to permit ofeasymovement of the hands and forearms when the arms 7 and glovesS'areiinuse; I also pretest/'0 straps 40 tohold' the sleeves more Thearrrlholes consist of slits 39, as shown in Eig,f7, hetweenthe side'bodyairchambers 2.

lPo'ckets '32 are provided the lining 30' as also maybe an air pump 33connected by ure ypiping 34, arranged hetwen sai'd' i iningfiO and airchambers 2. Each air chamber-is provided with a non-return va-Ive35,shown shown in detail in Fig; 1 1', may he placed on the piping 34',leading into either'offthe air chamberm so that any oflthe said checkvalves may be immediatelycut of in the,

in detail in Figsl12 anti-1'31 A "clasp 3.6,

event of an. air chamberbecoming defective.

Instead ofusing a pump asabove described thepiping 34 may be con tinuedup'intothe helmet in the-same wayas the leg airpipes 9, and the body airchambers: also inflated from the mouth.

It is understood, moreover that variations and modifications maybemade-to the foregoing provided the said variations and'modilicationsfall within the scope ofwhat 'I claim. 2 H V I What Iclaim as my iirventionand desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

' 1. In a life sav ng garment, a helmetlhaving an air inlet open1ng, apipe locatedin the helmet and'having an opemngcommumcating with the airinlet opening, said pipe having open ends, and means for closing theends ofsaid pipe.

2. In a life savin garment,ahehnet hava iug an air inlet opening,anpipellocatediin the helmet and having-an opening coma-moating with theair inlet'openingsaid pipe having openfends, slides'connected to saidpipe and carrying covers for the open ends of the same, springs fornormally retaining said coversin open position, and means for closingsaid covers. 7

3. In a life saving garment, a helmet having an air inlet opening, ahorizontally extending open ended pipe located in said helmet and havingan opening communicating with the air inlet opening, covers for the openends slidably mounted on the pipe, means for normally holding the coversin open position, and means for closing said covers. 7

4. A life saving device comprising a helmet having an air chamberarranged round the top, sides, and back thereof, and means for inflatingor deflating said air chamber, a body portion comprising a series ofvertical Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, byaddressing the .air chambers arranged between a warm inner hnmg and awaterproof outer covenngf means for inflating said body air chambers,means for cutting off the air supply from any air chamber that may provedefective, and a substantially waterproof inner and outer closure, incombination with leg portions each having an air chamber and imdependent means for inflating and deflatingsame, said leg portionsterminatin in boots and sleeves and gloves arranged rom said bodyportions, access being had to said sleeves through slits providedbetween said body air chambers.

R. J. KEE.

Witnesses:

C. M. CORKETT Lt,

MARGARET J. 6. Km.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

